As faculty members and doctoral students at a variety of universities across Canada, and members of the newly formed Canadian Network for Critical Sociology, we have been dismayed by the recent epidemic of cases of sexual violence and examples of rape culture on Canadian university campuses.

To wit, the number of stories reported in the Star and other media outlets over the last few days regarding pro-rape chants at frosh or orientation week events at Saint Mary’s University and the University of British Columbia, as well as the alleged sexual assault of a student at York University during similar events.

While it would be convenient to dismiss these incidents as isolated cases whose timing is merely coincidental, we believe, on the contrary, that they are the proverbial tip of the iceberg, being indicative of a long-standing sexual violence crisis that is as systemic as it is enduring on Canadian campuses. In an Aug. 19 speech to the Canadian Medical Association in Calgary, Federal Minister of Health Rona Ambrose noted that “25 per cent of young women will experience sexual assault (on university and college campuses in Canada).”

University spokespersons and administrators, ever mindful of their institutions’ reputations and fearful of negative media coverage, facilely proclaim their moral outrage and disgust towards the latest incidents while promising vague sanctions or even vaguer and wishy-washy “sensitivity training” for a few of the worst offending (or most publicly visible and thus embarrassing) students involved, or yet again, appoint investigative expert panels whose recommendations are non-binding.

These steps hew closely to the public relations damage control and crisis management playbooks, but they sorely fail to confront or even acknowledge the systemic and pervasive character of the crisis.

None of this is acceptable or adequate, and the Canadian public deserves much better from its universities. Regarding issues of sexual violence as much as any others, universities cannot be content simply to be passive socio-cultural microcosms or eventually to hope to catch up with the rest of the country. Rather, they must act as institutional exemplars aiming to transform society at large to eliminate the scourge of sexual violence, as they have done with several other causes and problems in the past.

Although it is often obscured or forgotten today, the fundamental mandate of universities is to cultivate informed and engaged citizens, which is vital to the good functioning of a democratic society and, thereby, to the public good. If universities do not take the lead on the matter of sexual violence and rape culture, what institution in Canada will do so in their stead? If this is not imperative to the public interest, then what issue is?

As sociologists, we know that the sources and causes of this crisis are complex and multipronged, as are the solutions to resolve it. To be effective and long-term, such a resolution will require a combination of the strengthening of existing policies and the creation of new ones, as well as involve both top-down and bottom-up changes to transform formal institutional regulations and, just as importantly, informal ways of thinking and acting on Canadian campuses.

Steps such as zero-tolerance policies and sexual violence orientation activities for students are needed, as are increased funding for independent rape and sexual violence crisis centres, campus security, student journalists, and peer-counselling groups, but so is the holding to account of university administrators whose academic units and institutions have an ongoing record of high incidents of sexual violence and fostering rape culture.

We are well aware that, in these times of federally and provincially mandated austerity, universities are operating with limited budgets. Nonetheless, we also know that these measures and policies would have a negligible impact upon universities’ operating costs, and surely pale in comparison to the sums expended for student recruitment, institutional marketing, and corporate fundraising.

As such, we urge administrators at all universities in Canada to dedicate themselves tirelessly to the fight against sexual violence and rape culture on their campuses by investing the necessary time, energy, and resources for this purpose. Canadians have a right to expect nothing less from the higher education institutions in which they place their trust, and which they fund with their hard-earned tax dollars.

Fuyuki Kurasawa is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at York University. Michael Christensen is a lecturer at the Centre for Initiatives in Education, Carleton University. Matthew Hayes is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at St. Thomas University. Mervyn Horgan is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology &amp; Anthropology at the University of Guelph. Steve LeDrew is a PhD candidate in the graduate program in sociology at York University. Saara Liinamaa is an SSHRC postdoctoral fellow in historical and critical studies at NSCAD University. Peter Mallory is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at St. Francis Xavier University. Marcia Oliver is an assistant professor in Law &amp; Society at Wilfrid Laurier University. Elisabeth Rondinelli is a PhD candidate in the graduate program in sociology at York University. Philip Alexander Steiner is a lecturer in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University. Stephen Tasson is a lecturer in the Department of Law and Legal Studies at Carleton University.